Building brick



J. w. MUTCH 2,192,69fl

BUILDING BRICK Filed Nov. 4, 1938 FIG. 4

INVENTOR JOHN W. MUTCH BY [/4 11 am ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 5, 1940UNITED STATES PATENT OFFiQE BUILDING BRICK Application November 4, 1938,Serial No. 238,769

4 Claims.

This invention relates to brick wall construction and has particularreference to an improved form of facing brick to be used in connectiontherewith as an aid in rendering the wall water repellant.

In the art of brick wall construction an ever present problem is that ofweatherproofing the completed structure so that it may effectivelyresist the influx of moisture or water during periods of rain and storm.Serious difficulties have been encountered with present types of brickwall construction because of the porosity of the mortar joints betweenthe courses of brick. Practically all of the water and moisturepenetrating through the ordinary brick wall gains its entrance throughthe joints. Some of this is the result of the natural porosity andabsorptive properties of the mortar itself, and the rest may be due tothe faulty manner in which the mortar is applied. Inasmuch as it isusually applied by hand, it is practically impossible to avoid theoccurrence of crevices and pockets in the mortar through which water mayenter. Water seepage is especially severe during periods of wind-drivenrain, during which the wind pressure against the wall is oftensuiiiciently high to push considerable water through the mortar joints.

It is a principal object of this invention to provide a brick of novelform which, when laid in a wall, will resist the infiltration ofmoisture and water through the joints.

A further object is to provide a brick of novel shape which may be laidin the usual manner in either straight or staggered courses, or may beused with other standard types of brick, and which embodies noveldrainage features for shedding any water that may collect in the mortarjoint between the bricks.

Another object is to provide a novel form of brick which when laid in awall will present to the weather side a water dam embedded in the mortarsubstantially parallel tothe face of the wall.

A further and more specific object of the invention is to provide anovel brick which by reason of its shape may be stacked vertically, andin which the major portion of its upper surface is sloped upwardly awayfrom the face so that the movement inwardly of water collecting on itsupper surface is opposed by the force of gravity.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a considerationof the following specification and claims taken in connection with theaccompanying drawing forming a part of this application, in which Fig. 1is an isometric view of a brick showing the preferred embodiment of myinvention;

Fig. 2 is a View diagrammatically illustrating 6 the relative positionof such bricks when arranged in a wall in interlocking or staggeredcourses; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of a corner section of Wallconstructed in accordance with the present invention; and i Fig. 4 is afragmentary view showing a modified form of dam extending along theupper rear edge of the brick.

In the drawing, the brick is shown having a top surface it slopinggradually upward away from the front face to a point near the rear edgewhere the slope increases abruptly to form a raised dam l2 extendingalong the entire rear edge.

Spacing ridges l3, l4, and 15 extend from the dam l2 forwardly acrossthe upper surface of the brick to the opposite or front edge, threeridges being shown, although fewer or more may be provided. I prefer toconstruct a central ridge M of double width, and on either side singlewidth ridges l3 and I5, spaced slightly nearer the ends of the brickthan the center, although, it is to be understood that the number, sizeand spacing of these ridges may be varied as desired. The top of eachridge and the top of the dam are in a single plane parallel to the basein order to provide extended contacting areas for the under surface of abrick or bricks placed thereon, and to facilitate vertical aligning ofthe bricks.

A chamfer I6 is made on the forward edge of each ridge so that, when thelong side of the brick is faced outward in the wall, the ridges will becompletely embedded in the mortar and will not show in the wall face.Chamfers H and I8 are provided along the rear vertical edges of thebrick, and a chamfer i9 is formed along the lower rear edge. At present,I have found a chamfer of 45 to be the most desirable.

As stated, the infiltration of water and mois- 1 ture through a brickwall is ordinarily confined principally to the mortar joints. During awinddriven rain the combination of a sheet of water constantly coursingdown the face of the wall and a pressure exerted by the wind is enoughto push considerable water through the porous mortar. This water wouldnaturally tend to settle on the upper surface of the brick so that thepath of any substantial quantity of water would be across and in contactwith the top of the brick.

Since the top siu'face of the brick, when it is placed broadsideforward, slopes upwardly away from the face, the passage of a body ofwater thereacross is appreciably retarded. I have contemplatednevertheless that with winds of greater than usual velocity the pressuremay be sufficient to push considerable water inwardly up the inclinedsurface of the brick. The dam l2 has thus been provided as an additionalsafeguard. Relatively speaking, a substantial head of water mayaccumulate in front of the dam which will exert enough back pressure toprevent the entrance of additional water. Once the driving force of thewind ceases, the water collected in the joint between the bricks willflow outwardly and be shed.

Fig. 3 shows the bricks laid in staggered, interlocking courses to forma wall in which the ends of alternate bricks are included in the face.The dams l2 of the bricks placed end forward in the wall are normal tothe wall face and consequently cannot act as a barrier to theinfiltration of water. However, ridges l3, l4 and I5 are now parallel tothe wall face and the outermost ridge l3, as shown in Fig. 2, forms adam to stem the incoming water. With the brick in this position, surfaceI i, and particularly that portion of it in front of ridge l3, no longersheds water out" wardly but, instead, the water flows to the side intovertical joint 20 where it filters downwardly onto the surface of thebrick beneath. From the latter surface it is shed outwardly. Should anywater be pushed over the top of ridge l3 it will settle in the spacebetween ridges I3 and M and drain off on the side. Since the dam formedby ridge It lies Well forward of the dam 52 on the brick below, anywater passing over ridge l3 will drain onto surface ll of the lowerbrick in front of its dam.

Fig. 4 shows a modification l2 of the dam l2 of Fig. 1. Dam or ridge l2extends along the entire rear edge of the block, but is set back so asto overhang the rear face.

The overhanging portion of dam I?! may be used as a lateral spacingguide for an adjacent course of brick in the construction of a multiplecourse wall. If desired, the brick may be made with the dam extendingfrom the rear face a distance sufficient to contact the forward face ofthe adjacent brick and, at the same time, provide a space below the damto receive the quantity of mortar necessary to form a satisfactory bond.

The novel form of brick disclosed and described herein may be arranged,as shown, to form a compact sturdy wall in which the bricks, or portionsthereof, are brought into closer relation to the surrounding brickswithout materially decreasing the effective bond therebetween, and inwhich the porous portions thereof are arranged to drain on surfaceswhich slope outwardly, or which are sloped to drain onto outwardlysloping surfaces. In addition to the drainage provided by the slopingsurface of each brick, an additional desirable feature is the provisionof dams tocheck the flow of water and. create a back pressure to holdout additional water.

It will be observed that the ridges formed on the surface of the brickhave multiple functions, namely: those of spacing or verticallyaligning, supporting, and in certain cases water repelling. It is alsoto be noted that the combination of water-dam and spacing ridgesprovides means for checking the flow of wateracross the surface of thebrick in both the longitudinal and transverse directions.

It is obvious, of course, that various modifications in the form ofbrick shown herein may be made without departing from the spirit oressential attributes of the invention, and therefore I do not desire tobe limited to the specific details shown and described.

I claim:

1. A building brick having its upper surface sloped downwardly towardthe face, a raised ridge extending longitudinally along the entire rearedge of said upper surface, and a plurality of spaced ridges extendingtransversely across said upper surface and having one end connected tosaid longitudinal raised ridge, said ridges having their top surfaceslying in a plane parallel to the base and forming dams to oppose themovement of water across said upper surface.

2. A waterproof building wall structure comprising a plurality of bricksarranged in superimposed courses, said bricks having their uppersurfaces sloped to facilitate the drainage of water therefrom and havingraised ridges thereon forming dams to oppose the infiltration of waterthrough the joints between said courses, said ridges cooperating withthe under surface of the brick immediately above to maintain verticalalignment of the bricks.

3. A building brick including an upper surface sloped downwardly towardthe face, and a plurality of raised portions on said upper surface, oneor more of said raised portions extending longitudinally across saidsurface spaced from said face and another or others of said raisedportions extending transversely across said surface to form cross-damsfor opposing the movement of water along said upper surface, saidplurality of raised portions being cooperable with the under surface ofa similar brick to enable a plurality of such bricks to be stacked invertical alignment.

4. A building brick including an upper surface sloped downwardly towardthe face, and a plurality of raised portions on said upper surface, oneof said raised portions extending longitudinally along the rear edge ofsaid upper surface and overhanging the rear face of the brick andanother or others of said raised portions extending transversely acrosssaid surface to form crossclams for opposing the movement of water alongsaid upper surface, said plurality of raised portions being cooperablewith the under surface of a similar brick to enable a plurality of suchbricks to be stacked in vertical alignment.

JOHN W. MUTCH.

